September 27, 2012

Muscogee man is #1 principal

By Phil FerolitoSchool band members rolled out a bass beat as students chanted "We’re No. 1, we’re No. 1." A few students held a large banner naming Greene the 2013 National Principal of the Year. He knew he had been nominated for the national award, but this was the first word that he was chosen.

"I didn’t understand why all the cameras where here, but everyone was smiling so that seemed like a good thing," he said after the gathering. "Usually when there are a bunch of cameras at a school, it isn’t a good thing."

Greene, 43, is the first high school principal in the Northwest to receive the award from MetLife Resources and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Only two awards are given each year by the organizations, one to a high school principal and the other to a middle school principal.

Greene, a Muscogee-Creek tribal member, was noted for turning this school nestled on the Yakama reservation—where poverty is high and opportunity slim—into a high-performing institution offering 27 high-profile engineering and biomedical classes. The effort saw state science scores improve by 67 percent over three years. Greene, who became principal of the high school in 2008, was selected from a large pool of principals, one from each state across the country. He was nominated for the national award by the state’s principals association. His school will receive a $5,000 school-improvement grant as part of the award.Comment: For more on Indians and education, see First American Indian Sorority and Juneau Addresses Democratic Convention.